A response to Ryan...

Look, I'm not a conspiracy buff blaming "Big Oil" or "Big Brother" for all the problems in my life. I am more than willing to listen to rational, reasonable arguments to the point that the ten largest oil companies in this country are NOT gouging the US public with inflated gasoline prices.

In fact, Ryan did have one interesting point in his last post: Is it wrong of me to blame the "private sector" for gouging, when in fact I should be blaming the Feds for artificially raising the cost of production with un-needed taxes and expenses?

An example of Ryan's point...

It is undeniable that, at times over the past 8 years, the US has had a surplus of crude oil stocks, but gasoline prices have continued to rise due to "bottle-necks" at the refinery-end of the formula. Not enough refining capacity to work the crude we already have, in other words.

My point...

According to the 2004 Annual Report of Exxon-Mobil, not one dollar has been spent by that company since 1984 on NEW oil refinery facilities, and in the last 11 years, only $135 million has been spent on improving or upgrading existing facilities (and much of that is due to new Federal regulations of refining procedures, as Ryan has said). Yet this company alone managed to post a $30 billion dollar profit in 2006!

According to the Economic Report of the President (2008), it would cost an estimated $36 billion a year for 6 years to TRIPLE the refining capacity of the US as it stands now. This cost would be spread over 50 to 60 years via guaranteed government loans by participating companies... but Exxon-Mobil at least, isn't having any of it. As can be seen from their annual report, they prefer to maintain huge, bloated cash reserves that give them the AAA corporate credit rating that makes their stocks so attractive on the world markets. The President's Report shows that NO Big Oil company is building or expanding its refining capacity in 2009. None.

Without sounding like a conspiracy hack... is it unreasonable to think that perhaps the oil companies are NOT rushing to spend the money to build new refineries because they ENJOY the periodic (almost weekly) price hikes at the pump that WE, the consumer, are forced to pay because of the lack of refining facilities? Hasn't it been determined that Big Tobacco did the same thing by marketing smokes to kids, in the hope of getting them addicted early so they spent more money over their lifetimes? All "legal" free-market practices at the time, right? Or is it the job of the Federal Government to MAKE the companies expand thier facilities? When is the interests of the national economy and national security as a whole more important than "laissez faire" from DC?

Call me a conspiracy monger all you want. I'll tell you what I know to be true, right now...

This nation went from chalk-board theory to having the ability to vaporize a moderate sized city in less than 5 years, ending a war that had the potential to kill 1,000,000 American servicemen before it was over.

This nation went from shooting basketball-sized projectiles into space for a day to getting three men to the MOON and back in less than 10 years, all because one man asked that it be done before he was killed.

What I want someone to tell me is WHY this government is dragging its feet at the prospect of spending substantial money and effort to develop and produce alternative sources of power and energy that would at least lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. If you read the 2009 Budget, you'll see that not one red cent is going to be spent in 2009 on alternative energy production... not a penny! According to the OMB, the President's $1.2 billion dollar research goal was met in mid-2008, so no more money need be spent. Why is that? If the money can't be found do to a lack of revenue, and the prospect of additional taxes is THAT outrageous in a war-time footing, then is it unreasonable to look to private industry to pick up some of the slack through their R&D abilities?

I'm willing to listen to any reasonable response... just explain it to me, PLEASE!